


Heavy Storm

by TheSisterhoodOfTheTravelingFics



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Bakery and Coffee Shop, Crush, Gen, One Shot, Song Lyrics, Songfic, guitar playing, singing Jean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-16
Updated: 2014-02-16
Packaged: 2018-01-12 16:10:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1191426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSisterhoodOfTheTravelingFics/pseuds/TheSisterhoodOfTheTravelingFics
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Coffee Shop Au: Marco Decides to hire the random busker who plays across the street from the cafe he works at. This busker wins over his affections in one song. Oneshot by Aisling07</p>
            </blockquote>





	Heavy Storm

**Author's Note:**

> You can find pictures of this fic at http://aisling07.tumblr.com/post/76824528062/pictures-and-convos-from-the-sisterhood-of-the

**Heavy Storm- by Riley “aisling07”**

                Marco glanced out of the window from the corner of his eye as he cleaned off a table. It was raining outside the small café he worked in and owned. Not even a gentle rain. It was pouring down in large heavy droplets, the wind causing it to fall in an angle making it look almost entirely gray outside. Because of the unfortunate weather more and more people started to retreat into the café to escape.

                “Um, Armin-“

                A loud clap of rolling thunder sounded and the lights hanging above them started flickering.

                “Yes?” Armin asked quietly, peeking out from his work station in the back room and glaring up at the flickering light. His response was barely audible over the sound of water droplets hitting the roof and pavement.

                “Do you have the news channel on in the back?” Marco nodded his head to the window, “I’m worried about this.”

                “Oh!”

                Armin hurried to the back room, wiping pastry frosting off on his apron before turning on the small TV they all kept in the kitchen. The news showed that they were under severe thunderstorm warning. Armin, who brought up a weather app on his smartphone, turned the screen towards Marco. A large red mass moving toward their area indicated weather was indeed going to be severe.

                Marco couldn’t help, but grow worried. The café was old; an antique he inherited from his great-grandmother when his parents didn’t want it. He saw why when he arrived there. It was in horrible condition. Equipment was short-circuiting constantly, there was no electricity on some days, and a fair amount of water damage and rotting décor. It somehow survived though. With enough hard work and many DIY repairs made by him and the staff, it became a mildly popular café in their part of New York.

                No amount of repairs changed the fact that the café was still fragile though. With the heavy storm outside, it was very likely that the power would go out. Marco looked over his shoulder at the lounge. More people were pouring in, shaking out their wet umbrellas and were making themselves comfortable on the couches and in booths. All the staff was working as hard as they could; Christa and Mikasa quickly working on drink orders and Eren yelling out completed orders.

                “I’m going to go upstairs and get some flashlights or something. I have a strong feeling the lights are going to go out today and I know none of these people are going to leave soon,” Marco said, examining the growing crowd.

                Armin nodded.

                “I’ll try to see if there’s anything I can do about the generator,” he responded. Besides being one of the best pasty bakers they had, Armin Arlert was a pretty good mechanic as well. Marco could never express how thankful he was for him. If it wasn’t for Armin, the café would have probably failed during its early business days.

                Marco lived in the small apartment on top of the café; another part of the property he inherited. It wasn’t as damaged as the shop below, but it still had minor technical difficulties. He spent his first months there using candles and flashlights for lights and eating nothing but peanut butter sandwiches with only his cat for company. Now, he had actual electricity, and ate real food, and occasionally the employees he was the closest to would sleep in his guest room if they had an early shift the next day.

                He unlocked the door, his cat automatically jumping down from her spot on the windowsill to great him.

                “Hey best roommate ever,” Marco bent down to give her a quick scratch under the chin,” Not done with my shift yet Sina, just need to get some things.”

                Sina followed him into the kitchen chortling and begging for food as he shifted through the storage cabinets. He came up with two flashlights, a big LED lantern, strings of battery operated Christmas lights from the café’s first holiday season, and a bunch of old candles.

                “OK FINE,” Marco groaned, giving into Sina’s wishes, “You already ate but I can’t ignore you.”

                He went to the fridge, crabbing a can of cat food. That’s when he noticed a yellow post it note on the fridge

**_Jean Kirschtein_ **

**_Feb. 13 @ 6:00 PM_ **

                Marco tore it off the door inspecting it closer. The name written in messy scrawling, a phone number at the bottom.

                _Jean. Jean Kirschtein? February 13 th… Thursday at 6 Pm…_

“Oh no,” Marco whispered.

                The rain picked up with another loud clap of thunder.

                “Oh no oh no oh no oh no no no no-“

                Marco totally disregarded the open can of cat food and rushed to the phone, note in hand, hastily dialing the number. Today was February thirteenth and the time currently was 5:50 PM.

                Jean Kirschtein was some guy that on occasion, would busk across the street from the café. Sometimes he would even come in and buy coffee. He was pretty good and thought it’d be a good idea to have him play in the shop. Not with the bad storm going on at the moment though. He had to get a hold of him before he started heading out, if he was even going to show up at all-

                “Huh?” The phone picked up on the third ring.

                Marco fumbled awkwardly.

                “Uh-hi!” He stammered, “This is the guy from the coffee shop. The one you were going to play at-“

                “Oh yeah! You’re… um… Mario?”

                “Marco, actually.”

                “Yep, that’s it! Yeah, sorry I’m running late. I’m on my way now.”

                “What? Wait- no.”

                “Too late. I’m almost there. It’s just rain. I aint gonna melt. See you in a few Margo! It’s really hard to talk when it’s raining so fucking hard.”

                “It’s Marco.” He huffed.

                Jean hung up before Marco could even finish. He sighed.  This guy was going to get himself killed.

                The biggest clap of thunder sounded and the sky illuminated with lightning outside. The lights flickered once before going out completely.

                “Oh, for the love of Jesus,” Marco groaned.

                “Well isn’t this just fan-fucking-tastic.” Eren audibly yelled from downstairs as if to reply.

                His outburst was followed by a small commotion. No one in their right mind would be leaving though.

***

                The set up they had was actually pretty nice. Twinkle lights were strung through the rafters casting gold light wherever possible, and candles were set on each table. Armin was passing out free pastries and the barista were still filling in simple orders of coffee and hot chocolate. People were comfortable and happy, making conversation with each other. Some of them regulars and some of them random people that entered the coffee shop since it was the closest building in sight to hunker down.

                Suddenly the door blew open causing people to turn and stare because of the sudden noise of wind blowing into the building and its handle smacking the wall. There stood Jean Kirstein, completely soaked, a guitar case strapped over his shoulder.

                “Hey, close the door you idiot. You’re letting the storm in,” Eren yelled from behind the coffee counter looking incredibly pissed off.

                Jean glared at him, struggling to shut the door against the raging wind.

                “Don’t mind him,” Armin said as he helped Jean get the door closed, “He just had anger issues,” He added before retreating back into his kitchen.

                “I. DO. NOT,” Eren slammed the whipped cream canister he was holding, down onto the counter and followed Armin into the back room to bicker with him.

                “Not again,” Mikasa sighed. She went to the counter right away, picking up where Eren left off and calling the orders out.

                Marco, hearing the sudden bickering and yelling went to investigate.

                “Oh gosh, you’re Jean? What happened to you?” Marco asked rushing out from the back room.

                Jean shook the water droplets out of his tan hair.

                “Well, I didn’t melt.”

                Jean sneezed and shivered slightly. Marco thought of how he looked pathetic standing there; like a stray puppy.

                “C’mon,” Marco gestured upstairs, “You’re going to get sick.”

                “No I’m not,” his voice wavering a bit through the shivering,

                Marco raised an eyebrow and Jean followed him upstairs to the apartment. Eren, who was done bickering with his blonde friend, watched carefully. He was positive this man was going to knife Marco at any moment and start stealing valuables.

                “You’re just going to let me into your house?” Jean questioned as Marco started unlocking the door, “I’m a random stranger that busks across from this place because I don’t make enough money. Did your parents ever teach you about stranger danger?”

                “I can’t just push you onto stage, soaking wet and shaking. Customers would look at me like I was crazy,” Marco held the door open and Jean entered hesitantly, a bit nervous about just stepping into someone else’s house.

                “So, you live right above the coffee shop?” Jean said, trying to make casual conversation as he was lead to the guest bathroom

                “Yep.” Marco said, digging through the closet for a towel.

                “Well, that’s kinda cool.”

                Marco turned handing the towel off to Jean. He eyes the soaked clothes, Jean still dripping where he stood.

                “You can borrow my clothes if you want. Those aren’t going to dry anytime soon.”

***

                “How’d you even manage to get this soaked in the first place?” Marco was just outside the bathroom, sitting on the floor and Jean dried off.

                “Got on the wrong damn bus,” He replied from the other side, “I would’ve been late if I went back to get on the right bus. Plus it wasn’t raining just yet.”

                “So you walked all this way?”

                “Sure did.”

                “You could have done this for another day y’know.”

                “A guy’s gotta pay his overdue rent y’know.”

                Jean opened the door, now completely dry and wearing the clothes Marco handed off to him. They were a little looser on Jean’s thinner, lanky frame but, they would have to do.

                “Let’s get this show started!”

***

                Jean greeted the small crowd on the makeshift stage; He didn’t go too much into an introduction and just dove straight into playing. Marco heard the song before. It was called “Creep”

 _When you were here before_  
Couldn't look you in the eye  
You're just like an angel  
Your skin makes me cry

Eren glared over his cup of hot chocolate.

                “He’s one of those douches that play the acoustic version of this song at white people parties as an excuse for not playing Jason Mraz.” He muttered.

_But I'm a creep  
I'm a weirdo_

“No, you’re an _asshole_.” Eren growled into his mug.

                Marco was too busy mixing drinks to watch the show. He was still listening intently though. The song may have been overplayed by guitarists, but his voice was still nice. He put his own style into the song; starting off each verse almost whispery and increasing his voice towards the end of the verse,  growling the chorus, then roughly singing the bridge as if he was pleading to someone. Even his chord progression sounded different from the original artist’s music.

                The hours passed by seamlessly. Closing hour came by. Some customers braved the rain and each time one was about to run out, they would get cheers of encouragement from the customers that decided to stay and wait out the storm more. Marco didn’t mind at all. He wasn’t a strict owner and the customers were nice enough to make friendly conversation with him and the rest of the staff. Jean was still singing his little concert and every so often, Marco would stop what he was doing just to watch a bit.

                By the time Jean announced his last song, Marco was cleaning up the drink counter. He stopped working completely for this one so he’d be able to watch one performance entirely.

                The last song was called “Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop”. Marco never heard of it before but chuckled to himself. It seemed appropriate.

                Jean started moved his finger into chord progressions across the guitars neck.

_I think that possibly, maybe I'm falling for you_

                He sang the first line with a small grin playing across his lips.

_Yes there's a chance that I've fallen quite hard over you._

                Marco put the cup he was clean down and leaned on the counter, resting his chin in his hands. He kind of liked this song.

_If I didn't know you, I'd rather not know  
if I couldn't have you, I'd rather be alone_

                Jean played through the song effortlessly, hitting each high note at the beginning of the chorus perfectly and swaying with his eyes closed as he sang. One foot tapped on the wooden floorboard to keep his tempo and strumming in check.

  
I never knew just what it was about this old coffee shop  
I love so much  
all of the while, I never knew

Marco didn’t realize he was staring until Jean opened his eyes and stared back. The soft golden glow of the twinkle light illuminated Jean’s amber eyes and casted small glowing dots on Jean’s body and guitar. It seemed like he was the only person in the room and the visual was almost unreal to Marco. Each chord that rang hung in the hair momentarily, and Jean’s voice echoed off the walls, raspy but soft. Marco’s heart began to beat faster and warmth spread through his chest and into his cheeks that blushed bright red. Jean sang the last line without breaking his eye contact with the freckled boy

_All of the while, all of the while,_

_It was you_

                

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I also made a set list of the songs Jean performed if you're curious! 
> 
> Creep-Radiohead (acoustic)  
> Requiem on Water- Imperial Mammoth  
> Turning Page- Sleeping at Last  
> Flightless Bird, American Mouth- Iron & Win  
> Heavy Storm- First Aid Kit  
> Our New Intelligence- River City Extension  
> Fly Me To The Moon- Frank Sinatra  
> Skinny Love- Bon Iver  
> Asleep- The Smiths  
> Banjolin Song- Mumford and Sons  
> Anything for You- Ludo  
> Sally- Johnny Flynn  
> Soft Shock- Yeah Yeah Yeahs (acoustic)  
> Communist Love Song- Soltero  
> Sailor Song- The Godsdens  
> Pizza, New York Catcher- Belle & Sebastian  
> The Wrote and The Writ- Johnny Flynn  
> Maps- Yeah Yeah Yeahs (acoustic)  
> Shine- Benjamin Francis Leftwich  
> Black and Blue- Chris Garneau  
> Always- Panic! At The Disco  
> 1925- Ashe  
> Falling In Love At A Coffee Shop - Landon Pigg


End file.
